Monday, May 12, 2008

Tribes

I just read an article in Blender magazine about how emo kids are basically the most hated form of life in Mexico. The article mentioned that acts of violence against "Los Emos" were practically state sanctioned, and how they were frequently attacked "by everyone-an ad hoc collection of punks, skaters, gangsters, metalheads and goths." Whaaaaaat? Goths are beating up emos? I thought emos were just goth kids with no sense of history.

Violence based on music and style preference is pretty ludicrous to me. The article says that many who attack "Los Emos" do so in the mistaken belief that all emos are gay, which is equally disturbing.

I can remember some music culture clashes in my own youth. I can remember going to a Metallica concert where the Cult were the opening act, and a bunch of Metallicaheads started beating on some Cult fans under the then popular rallying cry of "Death to False Metal!". I listened to a lot of metal, but I loved the Cult and all sorts of other music. I still like a lot of "false metal".

My favorite bands at the time were Iron Maiden and the Smiths, so, keeping in the spirit of things, every so often I'd punch myself in the face for liking the Smiths. But because I liked the Smiths, I'd always follow this with a cutting remark to myself that would make me question the very nature of human interaction while laying my soul open to the very world that did not understand me.

Seriously though, folks--does initiating a beat-down on someone because of a haircut, a musical preference, or a fondness for guyliner seem like a reasonable response?

I thought the zombies had it bad.

6 comments:

Sasha said...

"My favorite bands at the time were Iron Maiden and the Smiths, so, keeping in the spirit of things, every so often I'd punch myself in the face for liking the Smiths."

Very Fight Club. :)

My review of Generation Dead has just gone up at the Yapping About YA blog (http://yappingaboutyoungadult.blogspot.com), and it's also cross-posted at my blog (http://sashavivelo.blogspot.com). I was really excited at being asked to review it, and the book didn't disappoint. I hope to see more books from you in the future!

Daniel Waters said...

Hey Sasha!

Thank you, thank you for the tookind and too cool review. I'll add it to the links. Cool site!

I also hope to see some more books from me in the future!

Take care,
Dan

Ena said...

Hi Dan,

Hope all is well with you on this lovely spring day.

Yesterday a box came to my house from Amazon; it was my copy of Generation dead. Do you know Pattie, who hardly reads, much to my veracious book reading self’s dismay, picked it up and read the first three chapters in about an hour. It is quite a testament to your book. I even had to call her to dinner twice because she wanted to keep reading, there is hope for her yet!

As for the whole emo thing, it amazes me how mean kids can be. Pattie changed her look when she discovered Panic at the Disco, My Chemical Romance, and such. Her friends at school gave her a hard time at first; luckily, they go over it and are not as violent as the kids in Mexico are. I will never understand violence because someone is different

Regards,

Ena

Anonymous said...

Just finished reading Generation Dead earlier this week... I was skeptical at first; I'm not much for the typical zombie tale, but I loved yours! Wonderful character development and riveting plot. And I was thrilled to see mysocalledundeath.com is actually up. ;) On my bookmarks now.

-Nykii

Daniel Waters said...

Hello Ena,

I'm glad Pattie is enjoying the book, that's really cool.

Take care,
Dan

Hey Nykki,

I'm skeptical of zombies, too. I'm glad you enjoyed the book.

Take care,
Dan

Sasha said...

Hi Dan,

Glad you liked the review. And thanks for the compliment about Yapping About YA! :)

Sasha